Ian Welke

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Ian Welke

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March 2009

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Ian Welke writes science fiction, fantasy, and horror. His short stories have appeared in KZine, spacewesterns.com, Arcane II, Zombie Jesus and Other True Stories, and the American Nightmare anthology among others. His first novel, The Whisperer in Dissonance, was published by Omnium Gatherum in 2014. End Times at Ridgemont High is his second novel and has been nominated for a Bram Stoker Award.

Before writing full time, Ian worked in the computer games industry. He was lucky enough to work at Blizzard Entertainment and at Runic Games. These days, when he’s not at his desk writing, Ian enjoys a variety of games. His favorites tend to be elaborate board games with many pieces and rules to confuse, though he’s happiest going mad with his char
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Ian Welke The ideas for The Whisperer in Dissonance came from a number of places. The most obvious is the title, which derives from HP Lovecraft's The Whisperer…moreThe ideas for The Whisperer in Dissonance came from a number of places. The most obvious is the title, which derives from HP Lovecraft's The Whisperer in Darkness. The Whisperer in Darkness has one of my favorite eerie moments in any story, when the reader realizes that the person the narrator is communicating with is no longer the person the narrator thinks he is. I experienced something similar to this talking with someone online who turned out to be a hacker rather than my friend and the slow realization that "my friend" didn't sound right was damned eerie.

A large part of the inspiration came from my own insomnia and sleep deprived craziness.

At the time I wrote the first outline, I was working in the computer games industry. I realize of course that there are worse jobs. But one thing about it was whenever we'd work long hours, someone would say you do this because you love it. I thought, what happens when the same long hours of often unpaid overtime gets applied to a job you don't love? Given that right now any attempt to protect workers is seen as equating with complete and total communism, how far can workers get exploited simply to maintain their jobs? So that led to the setup for the novel, the state the narrator is in when things really go off the rails.(less)
Ian Welke It's pretty rare that I run into a real block. I'm usually working on a few things at once, so I can usually switch if I'm stuck on one thing. Sometim…moreIt's pretty rare that I run into a real block. I'm usually working on a few things at once, so I can usually switch if I'm stuck on one thing. Sometimes though, I have to get past what I'm stuck on, so the best thing I find is to, since I work in Scrivener, create a new text file outside of the main manuscript and write things like:

What if the characters find the answer in X?

Wouldn't it be cool if Y happened?

Or I list 5 things I'd like to happen in the section I'm stuck in.

Usually one of those questions I ask myself will prompt a way past the block.(less)
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The Madness of Now

Picture a fork.

Now imagine that the fork has for some reason entered the National Discourse.

Initial News Story: There is a fork.

Response From Fox News: The liberal mainstream media is reporting a fork, but is it? Or is it a spoon?

(Five minutes later) Trump’s Twitter: Very wrong failing media talking about Trump and fork… everyone knows that’s a spoon. Enjoy!

That night on the Maddow Show: It’s c Read more of this blog post »
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Published on February 05, 2018 13:12

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Comments (showing 1-3)    post a comment »
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message 3: by Ian

Ian Welke Mark wrote: "Hi Ian: I saw you like the blog post. I know it's not book related, but I love showing off some of the great people in my life. I hope all finds you well on the west coast."

Nice looking show in your post. Always jealous of the visual artists.

Cheers, Mark!


message 2: by Ian

Ian Welke Mark wrote: "Thank you for taking me on as a friend. It looks like we have both coasts covered, east and west. Hopefully our paths will cross again and we can compare notes.
Mark Evans"


Cheers, Mark! It was good meeting you at the lighthouse. Good luck with the book!


message 1: by Ian

Ian Welke Sheabody wrote: "Hi, Ian,

It was great seeing you and Amy in Long Beach earlier this month! We talked about your book a little, and you remember that Allan really liked it. Paul also read it, but you will have to ..."


It was nice to see you all as well.

The protagonist in Whisperer... I don't think I intended her to be under the influence during the time period covered in the book. Sleep deprived, certainly, but while I discussed some of her past drug use, that was mostly for the purpose (along with the sleep deprivation) of establishing her as an unreliable narrator.

Welcome to Goodreads!

And good luck with the writing. My best advice is keep at it. It doesn't always make me happy, but I usually feel less crappy if I write than if I don't.

Cheers and I hope you all have a good rest of summer too!


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